End of an Era
by Corianna15
Summary: ***Revised*** Dr. Tommy Oliver has lived through many battles. Now, in the midst of his and the Dino Thunder Rangers' battle with Mesagog, an old conflict/enemy finds him again and the destiny of the planet will be changed forever. Set primarily in DT, but has a lot of history in MMPR and Zeo, done flashback style. Warnings: OC, CD, violence.
1. Prolouge

_**A thousand years ago...**_

Niriinya stood on the cliffs of **Dún** Aonghasa . Wisps of her silver hair had been pulled out of her bun and danced around her face. To the passerby she appeared to be a woman in her forties or fifties. Of average height, dressed in simple clothes. If one looked closer however, her face, despite it's aged lines was beautiful, and there was a sparkle in her deep blue eyes that could make one pause in wonder; eyes that were gently closed at the moment. She enjoyed being there and letting the wonder of the cliffs inundate her senses. The smell of the sea, the feel of the wind on her skin, the roar of the waves crashing, and the sight of it all allowed her to step out of time and away from her worries.

Drawing her shawl tighter around her shoulders she turned her wrinkle encrusted eyes to the sun setting over the ocean, the sky lit with bright orange and pink clouds. She wanted so badly to back up a hundred feet and run towards the edge at full gallop. Just before falling off the cliff she would sprout wings and soar gently down along the cliff face like the gulls. Unfortunately, even at the late hour, there were still a few humans hanging around to glimpse the sunset as well. She didn't begrudge their presence, however. While it saddened her not to be able to walk among them in her true form, it was moments like this, seeing them enjoy the natural beauty of the earth, that still gave her hope. If only all the others of her kind could understand them the way she did.

_Her kind._ She shook her head at that. Before the human population on the earth had grown and spread out over all the lands, _her kind_, had only referred to other unicorns. Now however it referred to all beings that were connected to the Source, and had what the humans call magic. Two thousand years ago, frolicking through the woods, in the heart of Europa, she never would had thought she had anything in common with the bloodthirsty Wyverns from the north, but a common enemy can unite the most unlikely of allies.

Over the ages as the number of humans grew and spread out across the land, it was impossible to avoid them. Despite being intelligent creatures, they had no way to communicate with the humans, as their language was far different. _'If we could've just communicated,'_ she thought, _'we could have learned so much from each other.'_ Instead, her kind were seen as dangerous and sometimes prized beasts and they were hunted relentlessly. A thousand years ago the oldest and most powerful of all the races had come together and conjured up the magic that allowed them to take on human form, thought and speech; essentially hiding from the humans, in plain sight.

Not all were keen on living the lie and chose to remain in their natural form and retreat high into the mountains, or far below the earth. As a result, humans soon forgot that they had ever existed and now only spoke of her kind in their legends and myths of old. This fact had given rise to a specific term, that had begun to be used by some of the younger generations. In it's way it united them all, no matter their race. So now _her kind_, was a much more inclusive group. Beings that called themselves, '_Mythics_.'


	2. Chapter 1

Reefside, CA 2004

He stood there, facing around 20 Tyranodrones. It wasn't how many of them that bothered him, he could hold his own, it was their pattern of attack, or lack there of. It was almost like they were trying to keep or contain him. Tommy had no intention of letting himself be kidnapped and whisked off to Mesagog's fortress again. He tried again to break through the circle around him, but ended up back in the middle. He finally gave in and activated the com function on his morpher.

"Hey guys, we've got a lizard infestation out here in the North end of the woods. I could use some help."

"This is Conner, we're on our way."

In that moment Tommy was regretting not having gotten around to developing teleportation technology. The bikes that Hayley had made the rangers were fast, but they still had to get to the lab to get them first. He looked around. The Tyranodrones moved around to one side forming a line to his right. Simultaneously, he heard the loud zap of an invisaportal to his left. He turned quickly to see Mesagog, Zeltrax and Elsa standing there. He was surprised that Mesagog had shown up himself instead of just sending his lackeys. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Greetingsssss...Dr. Oliver." Mesagog hissed.

"What do you want lizard breath?" Tommy kept a defensive posture as he faced the three, yet was still aware of the movement of the drones behind him.

Zeltrax growled and stepped forward. "How dare you address Lord Mesagog in that manner. I will teach you to show proper respect."

Tommy braced himself for the attack, but Mesagog put a scaly hand out to stop Zeltrax. "Now, now children. Let's be civil." He spoke slowly, a hint of amusement in his scratchy voice. "I'm sure that Dr. Oliver will surrender without a fight." There was an air of confidence in the vilian's statement, and it made Tommy wonder what exactly it was that Mesagog thought he had up his sleeve.

"In your dreams Mesagog. I'll never surrender to you." He retorted, silently praying that he could stall until the others arrived.

"Then today is the day when dreams come true," Zeltrax intervened. As he said this, Mesagog motioned to his right. The air about 2 feet away from him began to shimmer and two figures slowly emerged, standing shoulder to shoulder. To the untrained eye they appeared as two men, but if you looked closely there was a shimmer that shifted about them. Tommy knew right away what they were. He tried to fight the dread that came over him as a sinister and angry voice hissed inside his mind.

"The Warrior clans must be desperate if you've resorted to teaming up with the likes of Mesagog." Tommy taunted, trying to sound confident.

'_He is merely a means to an end.'_ Whispered the voice into his thoughts alone. _'These pathetic beings are of no consequence.'_ Then aloud the man on the right spoke. "It is more about vengeance, than necessity."

"Hadn't realized the mighty Warriors of the Earth, were so threatened by one little human," he taunted. "Killing me will accomplish nothing." He stood defiantly, but fear was starting to get a hold of him. He knew the powers these beings possessed, and that same smug air of confidence that Mesagog had displayed was emanating from them as well.

"You're right. Killing you wouldn't make much of a difference, however enjoyable that might be." They turned to each other and pulled a third figure out from the air behind them. "But killing her, might."

The woman that they now held between them was a mess. Her mouth was gagged and her hands bound behind her back. It took a moment for him to register who she was as he took in the scars, bruises and dried blood that covered her body. Her head had been shaved in various places, and cut in different lengths, however to one side of her head, a small patch of dirty gray hair cascaded over her shoulder and down her back. A few dirty rags were barely keeping her modest. He focused on her face. His dark eyes locked onto her bright cobalt blue ones. Tommy's chest grew cold and tight.

"Reenya." He mouthed silently. He sent a thought towards her, even though deep down, he knew it was futile. He heard nothing in response, meaning she had once again been stripped of her essence and turned human. Anger replaced dread as he looked at her, and he was about to challenge them when two loud blasts hit the ground in front of Mesagog and his goons, causing Tommy to stumble backwards. He turned around to see the other rangers arriving on their vehicles. His joy and relief at their arrival was quickly smashed as he saw and felt the field go up. The two Warriors had reacted quickly, enacting a force field that left the Tyranodrones and the other rangers separated from Tommy and everyone else. He looked back to Mesagog. This was what had given him such confidence earlier. Behind him, Tommy could hear the frustrated shouts of the four teens as they battled the drones and continued to try and blast the force field.

Tommy steeled himself. "What do you want?" His voice was defiant and strong, but inside he knew he was stuck. He had a feeling he knew how this was going to go.

"Ahhhh. Yess." Mesagog hissed, having recovered from the blast. "You see now, don't you." He motioned to the men on his right. One of them pulled a dagger from his belt and held it to Reenya's throat with a grin of evil pleasure.

"It's very simple, Tom-ee." Elsa chided and stepped forward. "You surrender your Dino gem and morpher, or your little friend dies."

He looked back at Reenya. Their eyes met. He didn't need telepathy to tell him what she was thinking. They both knew if he surrendered, they would both be killed. She would rather die than allow his battle to protect the earth be lost. And it made sense. He'd been in this position before. The bad guys never kept their word. Surrendering would gain them nothing, and they would lose everything. He gritted his teeth and looked at the ground, clenching his fists. All of this he knew, but he could not let her be killed. He couldn't watch her die, not after everything they had been through. He looked down at the bracelet on his wrist. The silver gleamed around the black gem. He looked back towards the rangers. The tyranodrones were gone and the teens were still trying to beat down the barrier. He looked back to the villains in front of him. Elsa stepped forward, one hand on her hip, the other extended towards him, palm up.

"So, what'll it be, Dr. Oliver?"

He wanted so badly to kick that smug look off her face. He looked once more at Reenya, imagining her true form, a being of immense beauty and magic, that had once, many years ago, decided to trust him.

"I'm sorry," he said as he met her eyes. They were sad and she shook against the hands restraining her, shaking her head and pleading with him. _'NO!' _

He sighed heavily looking once again at the bracelet. He reached down and took it off his wrist. Shouts and protests rushed from the rangers behind him, but he ignored them as he placed the bracelet in Elsa's waiting hand. "Hmph." She replied with a smug grin and backed up to deliver her prize to her master.

"There, you have what you wanted," he looked in Reenya's direction. "Now let her go."

In that moment Tommy was unprepared as Mesagog's psy-beam hit him. An overwhelming pain burned through every inch of his head. Gold light danced before his eyes. He grabbed his head and sank to his knees. Tommy could barely hear the screams of the other rangers. He tried to stand, but every fiber of his being screamed in pain. Black spots began to swim before him. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

Mesagog ceased his attack and Tommy crumpled in a heap on the ground. The pain did not go away, but it did lessen a great deal. He tried to stand, he wanted to fight, but he couldn't make his body move, and his mind was still reeling from the pain. His thoughts were muddled and foggy, he thought he could hear voices in the background as a darkness was slowly creeping in.

_A/N: Well whadda ya think? As Johnny 5 once said, "Need Input!" Both good and bad. _


	3. Chapter 2

_So the first chapter was a bit of a teaser. There is actually a lot of back story that will lead up to that point. I am going to try and make each chapter much longer, but it make also take longer to get them out there. Hope you enjoy! Reviews are what keep me writing, so if you like the story and want more please let me know!_

**2 months earlier**

Lilly stood on the sidewalk and stared at the building in front of her. "Reefside High School." The sign read. She was so excited, she couldn't believe she was really here. It meant a lot to her that her mom had trusted her to go half-way around the world by herself, despite how young she was. Lilly had been apprehensive when her mom had first suggested it, but as always her mom was correct. California was about as far away as she could get from the war, which was focused mainly in Europe and Asia, and if the council was successful she'd need to learn to live with and as a human very soon. So she had spent the past month trying to learn as much as she could about what it was like to be an American teenager.

She smiled inwardly as she watched the other human teenagers walk past and head into the building. She took a deep breath. "Okay you can do this." She told herself. Trying to curb her enthusiasm, she put on a serious expression and went in search of the administration office.

* * *

Kira was sitting at a table at the far side of the quad listening to her iPod. She was about to open her lunch when a back pack landed on the table and startled her. She looked up annoyed.

"Hey Kira!" Conner said cheerfully. She glared at him. "Really?"

"What?" The tall brunette said as he took a seat. Kira rolled her eyes just as Ethan joined them at the table. "So much for a quiet lunch." Kira mumbled to herself.

"Sheesh." Ethan said. "What's her problem?" Conner just shrugged and looked back towards the quad.

"Dude, dude," Conner said. "There she is."

"Huh, where?" Said Ethan.

"There who is?" Kira remarked.

"There, the new girl." Conner pointed to a girl sitting down on the grass about a hundred feet away. Ethan and Kira turned to where he was pointing.

Kira glanced up and noticed a lot of other people staring and pointing at the girl. Kira hadn't seen or heard anything about her until then, but she could see what all the fuss was about. For one thing, the girl had purple hair. It wasn't a bright purple, more of a soft lavender color, streaked with black that fell to her shoulders. Her attire was pretty normal, if not a little more on the edgy side, which Kira appreciated. What was really causing the commotion were the 4 small animals, two squirrels, a blue jay, and a bunny sitting on the grass in front of her. She was leaning forward petting and feeding them.

"Man," Ethan exclaimed. "I had heard she was a little weird."

"Oh what, and you're the poster child for normal?" Kira snipped.

"You're one to talk." Conner chuckled.

"Whatever." Kira said gathering her things.

"Hey where are you going?" Ethan questioned.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." Conner and Ethan watched Kira walk away.

"Should we go with her?" Conner asked.

"Beats me bro, but I am thinking I want to stay out of Kira's way for now. She is in some mood."

"Yeah, you're probably right." They remained where they were but decided to keep an eye on her progress.

Kira slowed her approach as she got closer to the new girl. She quickly glanced around. She couldn't believe how rude the other students were being. 'That's high school I guess.' She thought to herself.

"What's high school?" A light voice said. She looked back to see the new girl staring at her, there was no sign of her furry friends. When Kira didn't respond she smiled sweetly and stood up, brushing the grass off her black jeans. For some reason Kira was taken off guard and confused , "I, I, um..."

"I'm Lilly, well my full name is Lillyana, but I go by Lilly," she said, Kira noticed a slight accent. The girl extended her hand. Kira looked at the hand and shook it, mentally shaking herself. "Kira. My name's Kira. Mind if I join you?" Lilly looked almost giddy. "Awesome! Here," Lilly bent down and reached into her bag pulling out a blanket and spreading it on the grass. Kira was surprised that she could fit it in that bag, but didn't have time to dwell on it too much as Lilly continued. "Have a seat." Kira sat down putting her own bag off to the side. "So what is 'high school'?" Lilly asked. Kira gave her a blank look.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"You said, 'That's high school I guess.' I'm curious what you meant?"

Kira hadn't thought that she said that out loud, but she must have, not realizing it. "Oh nothing, just kids being stupid." She waved her hand around at the other students, some had become even more interested now that Kira was in the picture. She tried to change the subject so Lilly didn't feel embarrassed. "So where did you go to school before here?"

"I didn't." Lilly chimed happily. She was way too cheery for the mood that Kira was in. "My mom taught me everything I needed to know."

"Oh so you were home schooled."

Lilly looked off into the distance and a slight smile tugged at her lips. "In a way."

Kira thought maybe she had made a mistake interacting with this girl. While her appearance had seemed to indicate she and Kira might be like minded, she was way too chipper underneath it all. However, she was intrigued and wanted to get the low down on the new girl. She also knew that the boys were probably waiting to hound her for info the next time they talked, and she couldn't walk away empty handed.

"So where did you live before?"

"Oh it was a very small, kinda out of the way place. Nothing like this city. There are so many buildings here! And soooo many people. I've never been around so many people before. They are quite fascinating."

"Uhh yeah, if you say so." Now Kira understood why Ethan said she was weird, but at the same time she could totally see Ethan and Lilly hitting it off. A mischievous smile crossed her face. "So what classes do you have after lunch? Maybe I'll see you in one."

Lilly pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and studied it. "It looks like I have English and then Science." She looked at Kira. "Why do I have to take English if I already know the language?"

Kira giggled a little and shrugged. "Good question, but it is more like literature and grammar than learning the language. Who's science class are you in?"

Lilly looked back at the paper. "Dr. Oliver?" She looked at Kira who smiled.

"He's a really great teacher, I think you'll like him. I have science with him first period."

Lilly looked puzzled. "If he's a doctor shouldn't he be working in a hospital not a high school?" Kira laughed out loud this time. Lilly had apparently lived a very sheltered life. Obviously her mom hadn't taught her everything.

"He's not like a medical doctor. It just means he has a degree from college called a Doctorate. It just basically means he paid a lot of money to spend a lot of time in school."

"Oh. Well if you like him, I'm sure he's great." She smiled sweetly and put the piece of paper back in her bag.

Kira looked back over at the boys who were trying to pretend that they weren't watching. She started to stand up. "Hey come with me, I've got some friends I'd like you to meet."

"Wow really! I'd love to!" Lilly hoped up onto two feet faster than Kira would have thought possible and had her bag already over her shoulder.

"Don't forget your..." Kira looked down and the blanket was gone. She looked back at the girl wondering how she could have missed her putting it away. "Never mind," she said as she turned and they walked back to the table where Ethan and Conner were.

* * *

Lilly walked down the hall, on her way to the last class of the day. Kids stared at her, and she tried to focus on where she was going. She realized now, after spending the day at the school that purple had been an incorrect hair color. She hadn't seen any other students with a not usual hair color. Served her right for taking advice from her uncles. She wondered if they had done it on purpose, or if they were really clueless. She remembered, that when they posed as teenagers 10 yrs earlier they had had orange and green hair, but they never said it got them negative or unwanted attention.

She bumped into a boy that was looking at a bulletin board. "Oh I'm sorry." She said, and quickly moved around him not waiting for a response. How many times had she done that today? She needed to stop thinking so much. She had been late to her third period class because she had been analyzing the information from her second period history class, trying to compare the human perception of the events of the first century to her mom's memories of the time. "Focus." She told herself.

She arrived at the door of the classroom just as the bell rang. "Phew. Made it." She thought. A couple other kids arrived just after she did, pushing past her and hurrying to their seats. She looked at the man standing behind the desk in the front of the room. He was the youngest, most attractive looking teacher she had encountered all day. No wonder Kira liked him, she thought and smiled. He looked up in her direction, and she froze.

"Can I help you?" He said, moving towards her. A weird feeling came over her, but she tried to shake it off, as he got nearer. She held out her transfer paper.

"I..I just transferred in today." He took the piece of paper from her hand and looked at it. "Well Lilly, welcome to Reefside. I'm Dr. Oliver. Go ahead and take a seat." He looked out at the class. "There's one right back there next to Trent." He pointed and motioned for her to go. A boy with short black hair waved at her. As she started towards him her eyes didn't leave Dr. Oliver's face, she shook her head and focused just in time to not run into the first row of desks. She made it to her seat, as Dr. Oliver began speaking to the class.

"Hey, I'm Trent." The dark haired boy said, offering her his hand. She shook it as she placed her bag on the table in front of her. "Lilly, nice to meet you." She replied and looked back towards the front of the room. A strange familiarity hit her as she watched the science teacher, there was something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She shook herself and tried to focus on the words that he was saying, and not him.

Lilly was relieved when the bell rang signaling the end of the school day. The entire class had been very uncomfortable for her.

"So how was your first day?" Trent asked as they gathered their things.

"It was good, well interesting. This is my first time at a high school, well a school of any kind. I'm also not used to so much attention." She admitted. Trent had a kind face, and he took her thoughts off Dr. Oliver for the moment.

"Yeah, it's a small school, so people know when you are new. Trust me I know. I transferred in a few months ago, but don't worry by tomorrow there will some other drama that everyone will be talking about."

"Thanks." She smiled as they made their way to the front of the class.

"Lilly." She froze when she heard him say her name. "Could I talk to you for a moment?" He was behind his desk shuffling papers and packing a leather briefcase.

Trent put a hand on her shoulder. "I gotta run, I have work, but you should come by later. It's a place called Hayley's. Dr. O can give you directions. Hope to see you there." He turned and waved at their teacher. "See ya Dr. O."

"Later Trent." He moved to the front of his desk and leaned against it. She was frozen in place. She had wanted to scream 'Trent don't leave me' as he exited the classroom, but she had no voice.

He smiled warmly. "Don't worry," he said noticing her stiff stance. "You're not in trouble." He folded his arms over his chest. "I know what it's like to be the new kid in school, and I just wanted to see how your first day went."

Lilly relaxed and told herself she was being stupid. She tried to muster up her excitement from earlier. "It was great actually." She smiled. "Very different than what I expected, but I am finding hu..American," she caught herself, "teenagers fascinating."

He chuckled slightly. "Well that's good. I just wanted to let you know, if you need anything my door is always open until an hour after school. I know it can be hard to catch up on the material as a transfer. I don't want you to feel overwhelmed."

"Thanks Dr. Oliver." She nodded her head at him, her anxiety starting to fade. "No problem." He smiled and turned to grab his briefcase off the table. "_But right now all I want to do is get out of here!" _She thought to herself.

He froze and turned back to her, a strange look on his face. "I'm sorry that I kept you Lilly." He seemed a little dismayed and confused. He motioned at the door.

"Thanks," she said softly. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow." She headed towards the door sighing in relief as she left him behind, standing at his desk.

"_Who are you?" _The voice resonated in her mind. She froze and turned around. He was looking at her intensely. She tried to quell the fear that rose in her and play it off, she was imagining it right.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Fear laced her voice.

He held up his hands, the way people do when they are trying to calm someone down. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." "_You heard me didn't you?" _ And she had as well as those last words he spoke, only she was looking at him, and his lips hadn't moved. She had known at the beginning of class there was something wrong about this man, and she remembered her mother's last warning before they parted.

"_Now, not many of our kind live in America, and those who do, do so because they don't want to be found. So if another Mythic ever reveals themselves to you, run. Don't wait to ask questions, just go. I don't want you to take the chance of the Warriors finding you." Niriinya hugged her daughter. _

"_Don't worry mom. I'll be safe."_

With that memory, Lilly did what her mom had told her. She bolted out of the classroom and down the hall. "Wait!" He called after her, but she ran. She couldn't believe it. On her first day? The odds of that were ridiculous. Her mom had even picked this town, saying it was the safest place she could think of. What was she going to do now?

* * *

Kira, Ethan and Conner waited outside the front of the school. It had been 20 minutes since school ended.

"Where is she?" Kira wondered out loud.

"Probably talking to every ant or bug she encountered." Conner joked. Kira backhanded him in the chest. "Ow! I was kidding."

"So she's a little weird." Kira said.

"Yeah," Ethan chimed in, "but in a good way." Conner and Kira both looked at him. Kira smirked. She knew he'd be into her. "What?" Ethan said. "She's cool."

Conner smirked and looked at his watch. "Guys I don't know if I can wait any longer. I've got soccer practice at 3. If you want a ride to Hayley's it's gonna have to be soon."

Kira looked back towards the school. "Hey look." She pointed, and they followed her gaze to see Dr. O hurrying down the stairs, headed towards the parking lot. "Huh, Dr. O never leaves early. Unless..." They all looked at each other and ran to catch up with him.

They got his attention just as he got to his Jeep.

"What's wrong Dr. O?" Ethan huffed. "Is it Mesagog?"

"No. Nothing like that." He took a breath, tossing his briefcase in the back of the Jeep. He faced them. "Look have any of you guys seen the new girl Lilly?"

"Not since lunch." Kira said. "She was actually supposed to meet us after school, we were gonna take her to Hayley's and show her around." Kira looked at Conner and Ethan.

"What is it Dr. O? What's wrong?" Conner asked.

"She didn't show up?" He looked thoughtful. "That's my fault. I just hope she hasn't skipped town." He looked at them. "I need your guys' help. It's possible she may show up at Hayley's later, since you guys mentioned it to her. Trent told her about it as well. If she feels she can trust you, she may show up there. If you see her, don't let her out of your sight. She'll be scared. Do whatever it takes to gain her trust, tell her who you are if you have to, but don't mention me, and don't let her leave alone."

"What do you mean tell her who we are? That we're the Power Rangers?" Conner asked, making sure no one was in earshot.

"Yes. That's what I mean." He opened the door to his jeep and got in. "If she knows who you are she may feel safe enough to stay. I'm gonna go to the lab and see if I can get a lock on her, but her energy may be shielded. I need you guys to wait at Hayley's as long as it takes. If we don't find her, she could be in great danger."

"Dr. O, you're not making any sense." Kira said stepping up to the Jeep.

"I know. I don't have time to explain it to you right now. If you can get her to trust you, get her to the lab. It's important. I'll explain everything there. Okay?"

The three teens looked at each other. "Okay." "You got it."

"Thanks. I just hope we're not too late." He started the engine and pulled out.

They watched him go. "What in the world was that about?" Conner said puzzled.

"I don't know," Kira said. "But when you guys said Lilly was weird...I don't think we knew the half of it."


	4. Chapter 3

**Present **

"NO!" Conner yelled, as Mesagog hit Dr. O with his psy-beam. He hit the invisible barrier again, only to be thrown to the ground. He looked to the other rangers, all having suffered a similar incursion with the force field.

"I'll make this simple for you, Rangerssss." Mesagog hissed. He had stopped his attack on Dr. O, who was crumpled in a heap on the ground, but it looked like he was still breathing. "You can follow your teacher's example, and surrender the gems, or watch him die."

"Guys, what are we going to do?" Kira asked, as they huddled together.

"We can't surrender to him/ Without..." Trent was cut off by Kira.

"What are you saying?! We can't just let him die!"

"I know." Trent responded. "But think about it, what would he want us to do?" He reached out put his hand on her shoulder. She quickly shrugged it off.

"Guys come on." She looked between the red and blue rangers.

"I wish I could say that I have a plan to get around this, but I don't." Ethan said.

They all turned suddenly as they heard Dr. O cry out in pain. Mesagog was attacking him again, however it was short. Mesagog was proving a point.

Ethan and Trent both started to say something but Conner held up his hand. "Kira's right. We have to save him." He demorphed and looked at them. "We owe it to him. Could you really live with his death on your hands?" Ethan and Kira both demoprhed as well. "No," Ethan admitted. "I really couldn't." He and Kira took off their bracelets and handed them to Conner. They looked at the white ranger.

"Trent, we have no choice." Conner said with authority.

"Please." Kira pleaded with him.

Trent demorphed. "All right." He stepped forward also turning in his morpher. "But for the record, this is a bad idea."

They all turned. "All right Mesagog. You win." Conner said.

"A wise decision." Mesagog hissed as Elsa moved forward. Conner thought he heard Dr. O, crying out. He looked to where he lay. His head was up and one hand outstretched. "No..." The word was weak, but Conner heard it. "I'm sorry Dr. O." He said silently.

Elsa slipped though the barrier and held out a bag. Conner deposited all the morphers into it. "Thank you, so much." She chided, and returned to Mesagog's side.

Conner was about to demand Dr. O's release, when Mesagog yelled out, "Attaaaaack!" The rangers suddenly found themselves surrounded by Tyranodrones. Conner sidestepped an attacking drone discovering that his super speed was still with him. He remembered Dr. O saying that the gems had bonded with them, and that the only way there powers could be taken away was basically their deaths. He had hoped that was the case. They may not be able to morph, but they weren't powerless.

* * *

She watched, dismayed as the ransom/exchange repeated itself between Mesagog and the Rangers. But as she watched the drama unfold and analyzed the events, she was hopeful. She was still alive. The moment Tommy had turned over his morpher, she had expected to feel the cold steel of the knife cutting her throat. She had been so consumed with fear and concern for Tommy that she hadn't been thinking clearly. Of course the Warriors weren't going to kill her. They wanted her to suffer, and what better way than to make her watch him die, along with all of humanity. They were also cowards. They couldn't bring themselves to kill her 8 years ago, and they couldn't, wouldn't dare kill her now. She understood now the look in Tommy's eyes right before he had surrendered. They both had important causes to fight for, but he knew the gravity of the war she was fighting was much bigger than his. If one of them had to make it out alive, it was her. And he knew she would have everything she needed to defeat this new, and old threat. She hated admitting that to herself, but the whole of humanity was more important than one human. Emotion welled up inside her. In her heart, the reality of losing him, it was too much. The mental link she and him had shared was so much more intense than that of her own kind. It amazed her, that after so many years of no contact and without the gift of telepathy, she knew what he was thinking, how his mind worked, all it had taken was a look. She forced her attention back to the present.

The exchange had been made, and the teens were now fighting off those weird creatures.

"Now it gets interesting." Alean said into her ear. She grimaced at the close contact. He laughed in delight as the cyborg creature grabbed Tommy pulling him to feet. He was like a rag doll and couldn't stand without the creature supporting him.

"Take a good last look." The cyborg growled. "And know that you have failed." Without waiting for a response he punch Tommy in the chest and threw him to the ground. Tommy grabbed his chest and coughed, trying to get to his knees, but the metallic creature kicked him hard in the stomach causing him to roll over onto his back. He positioned himself above Tommy drawing his sword up with both hands, the blade pointed down. "Good bye. Dr. Oliver."

She closed her eyes.

**Elsewhere in Reefside**

The meadow was warm in the afternoon sun. Dr. O had warned her about prancing around in her true form, but at the moment she didn't care. This area was far from the city and roads, kinda like Dr. O's house, plus the wild flowers in the meadow were extremely delicious.

She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that she was now the ward of the Restorer, and friends with Power Rangers. She wished she could thank her mom for sending her here, but the shielding that hid the Dr. O from the Warriors, also kept her safe. Trying to contact her mom would jeopardize everything the council had and was working towards.

Her peaceful reminiscing was interrupted by a violent cry. Several cries actually. Both painful, and sad. They resonated in her mind, filling her being making it difficult to breathe, and she realized where they were coming from. Kira, Conner, Trent, Ethan and Dr. O. All of them. Something bad had happened. She reared on her hind legs and sped away, galloping as fast as she could, letting the cries lead her.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

2 months earlier

Lilly stopped and dropped to her knees out of breath, her lungs and legs burning. She hadn't thought, she had just run. How long had she run? 10 minutes, 20? She realized that she was still in human form and now she was dealing with the limitations of her human body. In hindsight it was probably better, since she hadn't been thinking about whether or not other people were around. If the humans had glimpsed her true form, she'd have more than the presence of another Mythic to worry about. She stood up and took a deep breath, finally taking in her surroundings. She was in a park of some sorts. There was a forest to her left and two streets that crossed in front of her. She close her eyes trying to visualize the route she had taken and how far she was from the school. School. She could never go back there. It was so unfair! She would never get to see her new friends again.

She gasped and her eyes shot open. "Kira, Conner and Ethan!" She was supposed to meet them to hang out. They would think she was a horrible person for not showing up. She flopped back to the ground as tears filled her eyes. She knew she was being childish, Garkan would shake his head at her. He had tried to dissuade her mother from letting her go.

"_She's only 6! Not 600 Niriinya!" Garkan hissed angrily, steam starting to rise out of his nostrils. In his human form, Lilly thought he looked funny and giggled as she watched from the corner of the cavern._

"_Well she's MY daughter, Gar, and I know what I'm doing." Came the wearied reply. They had been over and over this issue and it was beginning to annoy her. Niriinya turned and faced him, crossing her arms when she saw him getting so riled up. She addressed him in a more serious tone. "Or do you doubt my judgment." That look. That tone, and those words caused the younger Mythic to stop and get control of himself. _

_The centuries of serving under her kicked in. He bowed his head. "Forgive me, Ancient one, it's not that. It's just, I am merely concerned for her safety." He looked up, a contrite expression. "The timing...it just seems..." She held up a hand cutting him off. _

"_The timing is the reason why she must go." She stepped forward and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know how much you and Dey care about her. You are like uncles to her, and I appreciate the help looking after her these last few years after Marek disappeared. But you must trust me." She held his gaze, her bright blue eyes staring into his soul. "She will be fine." _

_He dropped his eyes and took a step back. "As you say, Wise one." _

_Niriinya gave an irritated huff. "Knock it off with the titles." She walked away._

_She didn't see the mischievous smile that spread over Garkan's lips, but Lilly did. _

The memory made Lilly smile. 'He always knew how to get under mother's skin.' She forced herself to regain her composure. Her mother had had such faith in her. She couldn't let her down, and she didn't want to concede to her uncle.

She would just have to find another city and start over, with new friends. Despite only knowing them for a few hours, they were the first human friends she had made. She had to at least say good bye to them, but she didn't dare risk going back to the school. She dug in her bag and pulled out the piece of paper Kira had given her with the phone number on it. She held it in her hands and closed her eyes focusing on the energy signature left by the curly haired girl.

* * *

_Some minutes later_...

"Hayley's Cyberspace Cafe" the sign read. Lilly approached the establishment carefully. Something about the name registered in her head. 'This is where Trent said he worked!' She thought with excitement. Her excitement quickly faded as she realized that she would have to say good-bye to him as well. As she walked through the doors she saw him standing at the counter. He turned around, a full tray of drinks in his hands. He saw her and smiled.

"Hey you made it! Be with you in a minute." He said as he moved to the tables to deliver the drinks. She smiled back, then allowed her eyes to flow around the room looking for Kira. She had traced her energy here, to this place. She finally spotted her on the far side of the room sitting on a couch next to Ethan. Taking a deep breath, she started in that direction. However when she was halfway there, she came across Trent, empty tray under one arm.

"So you found the place? What do you think?" He gestured to the cafe.

"Oh, it's nice." She said, trying to sound excited, but her emotions still running high.

The smile vanished from Trent's face. "Lilly, what's wrong?"

At his carefree, cheerful voice her thin facade crumbled. She felt her throat tighten up and tears began to build in her eyes. She turned away from Trent.

"Hey, hey." He said and moved around to face her. "Here, come have a seat, and tell me what's wrong."

She nodded and sniffled a little, letting him guide her to the bar. "Here." He said, gesturing to a bar stool. "Let me get you something to drink and you can tell me what's wrong." He moved to go around the counter.

* * *

Kira glanced up and saw Trent and Lilly walking towards the counter. She nudged Ethan. He looked at her and she pointed to where Lilly was sitting at the bar. She looked miserable, very different from the overexcited, peppy teenager they had met earlier. Without saying anything, both Ethan and Kira gathered their schoolwork and their bags and headed towards her. Trent was handing her a hot drink from behind the counter.

"I'm sorry I'm such a mess." They heard her say. "But I, I just found out I have to leave." She exhaled loudly.

"Lilly?" Kira said to get her attention. The girl's face was a wash of relief.

"Oh Kira!" She exclaimed sadly and hopped down off the bar stool and threw her arms around the other girl. Kira was startled and exchanged worried, questioning looks with the boys. She pulled Lilly's arms away so that the girl faced her.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked, trying to tread carefully. Dr. O hadn't told them much, and she didn't want to say the wrong thing. "I'm sorry we missed you after school. We didn't mean to ditch you, but Conner waited as long as he could. He had to go to soccer practice."

"No, no." The girl chuckled lightly, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It's not that. I should be apologizing to you for not showing up. It's just, I found out something, and," she paused looking back and forth between the three. She looked like she was going to burst into tears again. "I have to leave Reefside."

"What? Why? But you just got here?" Ethan remarked, asking way too many questions at once.

Kira quickly jumped in. "Is everything ok?"

"No. I just have to go, but I wanted to say goodbye, and say thank you," she looked at all of them, "for being so nice to me today."

"Listen," Kira said softly. "Whatever trouble you're in, we can help you."

"I appreciate that, but I don't think..."

"Trust us." Kira interrupted. "Let us help you." She looked at Trent. "Could we use the back room for a minute?" He raised an eyebrow at her. He had been so busy when she and Ethan had first gotten there, that she hadn't filled him in on the situation with Dr. O.

He was confused, but he recognized that 'I'm not asking' look in Kira's eyes. "Umm, yeah. Sure."

"Thanks." And she began dragging a slightly stunned Lilly away. "Ethan." She called forcefully, indicating that he was to accompany them.

Ethan looked at Trent. "I'll explain later." And he followed the two girls into the back.

Kira stood in the middle of the storeroom with Lilly in front of her. The girl had stopped crying, but now had a wary look in her eyes. "Ethan, guard the door." She instructed as he closed it behind him. She looked back to Lilly. "Ok, I'm gonna tell you a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else."

"O..okay." Lilly replied hesitantly at first then with a smile. "I know how to keep a secret."

"Good." Kira chimed, trying to be a little more upbeat and lighten the mood. "See, thing is, whatever trouble you're in, Conner, Ethan, Trent and I can help you."

The smile vanished from Lilly's face. "Oh, I really wish that that were true."

"No really." Kira continued. "Look we're not ordinary teenagers, we're the Power Rangers." Lilly's eyes shot up at that.

"It's true." Ethan said. He held out his wrist. "See this bracelet and that blue stone in the middle? These are our morphers."

"See I have one too." Kira held up her wrist showing the silver bracelet with a yellow stone.

Lilly looked back and forth between the two and reached up to touch Kira's wrist. She was being really quiet, and it was making Kira nervous. "Umm..." she started, but Kira interrupted. From the way Dr. O had been acting she got the sense that time was of the essence, so she wanted to hurry this along.

"Here, stand back." Kira said giving Lilly a shove towards Ethan. Kira backed up as far as she could and flung her wrist out. "Dino Thunder, Power Up. Ha!" She morphed and stood there looking at Lilly. Ethan had his hand firmly on the door knob to keep it from being flung open. The look on Lilly's face was a mix of surprise, joy, confusion and awe.

"Incredible. You _are_ the Power Rangers!" She exclaimed. "I don't believe it! I've heard so many stories about the Power Rangers growing up, I never thought I would ever get to meet one."

"Power Down." Kira said. She smiled at the awestruck girl and Ethan relaxed his door duty. "See, whatever it is you can trust us and we can help."

"Umm..." She hesitated. Of course she could trust Power Rangers, but she wasn't quite ready to reveal the truth to them, it wasn't really her secret to tell, she thought quickly and came up with a version of the truth. "So, the short version. My people are in the middle of a civil war, well really it's been going on forever, and my mom is a major leader. She sent me away to live here for a while, so her enemies couldn't hurt me." Suddenly her demeanor changed. "But," she wrapped her arms around herself and looked away. "I think I ran into one of them today."

Both Kira and Ethan looked shocked. "Wow." Kira said. "On your first day too? That sucks." That statement had Kira intrigued, was Dr. O the enemy of this girl's mother? He had said her running away was his fault, but...Kira shook her head, that couldn't be right.

Ethan walked up and put an arm around her shoulder. "It'll be ok. We'll Protect you." She leaned into him and sighed. He felt the tension in her body relax just a little. "Come on." He said cheerfully, we'll take you to our secret lair." He emphasized the phrase "Secret Lair" making it sound all mysterious and spooky, which made Lilly laugh slightly.

* * *

Lilly was still in wonder as she sat in the back of the car with Kira. The yellow ranger had asked the nice lady with the red hair, who owned the cafe to drive them somewhere. Lilly was beginning to relax, but she wasn't ready to let her guard down. Dr. Oliver was around somewhere. Was he looking for her? Were there more Mythics lurking in this town? She was torn between a sense of dread and a sense of enthusiasm at meeting the Power Rangers. She knew this group was a different group of rangers than the ones she had heard stories about, but she was still excited. If only she could tell her mom, ooh she'd be astonished as her daughter's luck. But then a curious thought entered the young girl's head. 'Was it luck?'

They stopped a little ways off a dirt road in the middle of the forest. Hayley didn't get out of the car, but said something to Kira, then drove away.

"This way." Kira said and Lilly followed her and Ethan through the woods. She was just about to ask where they were going when she saw Ethan disappear into a cave that looked like it headed underground. Lilly was intrigued.

"Just stay close me." Kira said and they entered the cave, which opened up into a tunnel. Lilly looked around. She felt at home here. Underground. Surrounded by walls of rock and the musty smell of earth. They tunnel soon came to an end, a large skeleton of a dinosaur embedded in the wall. Lilly jumped when Ethan touched the lower jaw and the wall to her left suddenly lifted up. She gazed in amazement at the room that was revealed.

Ethan noticed her pause. "Awesome isn't it? Come on." He grabbed her hand and led her in. She looked around in wonder as the rock wall slid shut behind her. For being an underground cave it was warm and inviting with the soft yellow tones of the rock walls and lights. There was so much electronic equipment she didn't know what to focus on.

"So what do you think?" Ethan asked. She smiled at him. "It is very nice. It reminds me of home." He gave her a weird look. "An underground lab reminds you of home?"

"Well," she laughed, "not the lab and computers part, but the underground part, yes." The two teens looked at her as if she was from outerspace and she just laughed. "You see, my mom and I have had to hide underground my entire life."

"I'm glad that you're comfortable here." A deeper male voice said from the other side of the room. Lilly froze as she recognized the voice. She turned around. And there he was, Dr. Oliver, looking a lot less formal than when she had seen him at school. A tight fitting, black long sleeve shirt and loose khaki cargo pants. She grabbed a hold of Ethan, and stood slightly behind him. She felt Kira place her hand on her other shoulder.

"Lilly, it's ok. You don't need to be afraid if him."

"You don't understand." She said to them and started to back up towards where they had entered. But the door was gone, it was just a wall. "He's the one I was talking about!"

"Lilly, please." He was coming closer, his hand outstretched. "I am not going to harm you. I didn't mean to scare you earlier. I had to be sure. Please." His voice was soft and pleading.

Her back was to the wall, Ethan had stayed near her. "It's ok. Don't be afraid." He kept saying. She looked back and forth between the three of them, she felt trapped, like a terrified animal. Which wasn't far from the truth.

He stopped about 6 feet away from her still holding his hand out. She looked in his eyes. She could see no malice there. Kira and Ethan said trusted him. The symbols on the walls matched the symbol on Kira when she had been in ranger form, so he knew about them, was their friend. She took a deep breath, stood up straight and took a few small steps towards him. She felt the tension in the room dissipate and a look of relief on his face. He shook his head.

"I should have done this from the beginning, I apologize." He moved towards her and brought his hand up towards her face. She flinched away, and he stopped. '_Trust Me, I promise this will explain everything.'_ His voice was there in her head again, but this time it was accompanied by a warm, friendly feeling. She gulped and nodded, her nerves still on overdrive. She closed her eyes tight, preparing herself. For what, she did not know.

Dr. Oliver brought two fingers up the the side of her head and closed his eyes.

Suddenly her mind was filled with image, memories and feelings. In a split second she knew everything about the man that stood before her. Her eyes flew open and she gasped.

"Restorer!" She said softly in awe.

He sighed in relief and smiled. "You should really call me Tommy, or Dr. O if you prefer."

"Wait, what just happened." Kira asked, looking between the two. Ethan was equally confused.

"He's the Great Restorer! If it hadn't been for him, 8 years ago the Warrior clans would had taken over the earth and humanity would be no more than a memory." While they still stared at her confused by her words, she stood in awe of the man before her. She should have recognized him from her mother's memories, but he looked so different. She couldn't believe she was in the presence of the man that had saved the council, the only human she knew of who had been gifted with the ability to mind-speak to their kind. Everything made sense now. For the second time that day she could not believe her luck, and she was beginning to understand, that it had been her mother's plan the whole time.

"Dr. O?" Kira questioned.

He looked at Lilly. "Do you want to show them?" And he sent her a mental picture.

She smiled at the idea. She would love to see their faces. "You see," she said to the human teens. "I haven't been completely honest with you, I am not a human teenager. Actually, I've only been alive on the earth for 6 yrs." They looked at her even more confused.

"Since you trusted me earlier with your secret, I will return the favor. Stand back." When she was sure that she had enough room, she transformed into her true form, she felt so alive as the magic shifted within her.

She took in the shocked and awed expressions on the faces of her two new friends.


	6. Chapter 5

_**AN: Added a prologue to the story and combined what was chpt 5 and this chapter. **_

**Present**

Conner punched another Tyranodrone in the chest and flipped out of the way of another. His head snapped around as he heard Kira yell. She was trying to push her way past the Tyranodrones. Conner followed her intended path to see Zeltrax standing over Dr. Oliver, sword pointed down. Time seemed to slow down for Conner as he realized what was about to happen. The cold hand of fear gripped his chest and he ran as fast as he could zipping around two drones. As fast as he was, he had been too far away. He saw Zeltrax, in slow motion, drive the green blade down into and his mentor's chest.

"NOOOO!" Conner screamed. That scream turned into a guttural roar as he leaped up and kicked Zeltrax. The two of them tumbled away from Dr. O, Zeltrax's sword still sticking out of his chest. The two scrambled to their feet and Conner charged in, rage driving him. They exchanged a few blows, each blocking the others' punches. However, without being morphed, Conner was no match for the cyborg. Zeltrax blocked his next attack and punched him hard in the chest. Conner flew through the air and hit the ground hard. He coughed, the wind knocked out of him. He rolled over, trying to get to his feet and face the metallic monster. He could barely get to his knees. Zeltrax simply laughed and headed back towards the older ranger. He grabbed his sword with both hands, twisted it, then pulled it out of his victim. Tommy's body convulsed and a strangled gasp escaped his throat as the blade sliced though flesh and bone.

"So much for the great Tommy Oliver!" He continued to laugh as he walked over and rejoined Mesagog and Elsa. Then the trio disappeared in the bright flash of an invisiportal.

Conner crawled over to his fallen mentor and grabbed his hand. "Dr. O?" The teen said in a trembling voice. His teacher looked at him, tried to talk, but coughed and turned away as blood spewed from his lips. Conner quickly pulled off his outer shirt, bundled it up and pressed it down over the bloody wound. "Hold on Dr. O!" Then softly, his voice cracking, "Please."

He heard shouts from the other rangers. "Help!" "There's too many!" "Hang on." He looked back down. Tommy nodded his head and shifted his eyes in the direction of the other rangers. A soundless "Go." formed on his lips.

Conner shook his head. "No! I'm not leaving you."

Tommy pushed his hands away. "He...elp thmm." Another cough racked his body. He looked at the young ranger. "Go."

Fighting tears, he reluctantly stood up. "You hang on ok? You're gonna be alright." Conner said, hoping but not really believing, as he raced to assist this team mates.

* * *

It wasn't the worst pain he had ever been in, but it came damn close. He couldn't feel his legs and tasted blood. Breathing was getting harder. "You're gonna be alright." He heard Conner say. He heard the pain in the young man's voice. It broke his heart. He hadn't expected for things to go this way, although he always knew it was a possibility. He regretted leaving the young rangers, regretted the pain it would cause them. He silently prayed that they would be ok. His eyes searched around, until he saw her, still bound, but alive. He fought to stay conscious, locking his eyes on her tear filled ones. "Take...care..of them." He mouthed. She nodded, then her eyes fell to the ground, sobs racking her body.

He rolled his head back, looking up through the trees. The light danced between the swaying leaves. Another fierce, painful coughing fit hit him, blood spraying up and landing on his face. His whole body felt heavy, like it was being pulled down, into the ground. Warmth spread over him. The edges of his vision were beginning to get fuzzy. The sounds of the battle behind him were becoming muddled. He felt so tired, he just need to sleep. Yes, sleep, he just needed sleep.

He closed his eyes, the blackness surrounded him and all was quiet.

* * *

She didn't know how it was possible, but she felt it, the moment he died, when he took his last breath. A cold sensation took hold in the center of her chest. She forced herself to look at him. His still form laying on the ground. A cry of anguish wrenched her throat and her knees gave out. The two Warriors let her fall to the ground, laughing at her pain. There was no need to restrain her anymore, it was over.

"Don't worry." Alean gloated from behind her. "In a few hours, you, and the rest of humanity, will join him." She turned to glare at them, but they had disappeared. The sound of the teens battling faded around her as she brought her focus back to the human lying a few feet away from her.

"_Tommy." _She shook her head. _"His name was Tommy."_ He wasn't just another human, another casualty of the war, he was important. She owed him everything, and she had failed to save him when he needed her. She couldn't stop the tears streaming down her face. She tried to get to her feet, but it was difficult with her injuries and her hands bound behind her back. At that moment she was glad of the gag. It gave her something to bite down on as pain shot through her. She half stumbled, half fell towards him, once again landing on her knees. She wanted to touch him, to hold him. She fought to free her hands, finding that in reality they hadn't been bound tightly. Grimacing against the pain, she maneuvered her wrists and pulled out of the rope, ripped off her the gag, and scrambled over towards him.

From a kneeling position, she looked down at his face. If it wasn't for the small spatters of blood, she would have thought him to be sleeping. His expression was peaceful. She reached out and placed one hand on his forehead, the other on his chest. As her hand came into contact with a wet sticky substance, she jerked away. Looking at her now bloodied hand, she realized that his black shirt had helped to hide the site of the fatal wound. Emotions welled in her throat as she looked back at him.

"I'm, I'm so sorry." She sobbed quietly and buried her face into his shoulder. Despair and regret flooded and overwhelmed her, and for the second time in 10 yrs, she let herself be lost in it. What did it matter? It was over. He was dead and she was powerless. What hope did she have of defeating her enemy now? As if in answer to her silent musings a cry wrenched the air. To the human ear, it was like nothing that existed in nature. The closest one could say was that it sounded like the angry shriek of a hawk mixed with the high pitched whinnying of a horse. The sound of thunderous hooves accompanied the cry.

Niriinya sharply brought her head up and her despair was replaced by hope as a brilliant white wave of light streaked across the battlefield vaporizing the creatures that the rangers had been fighting. She averted her gaze until she felt the light dissipate then looked back. The four rangers had dropped to the ground, and were starting to slowly get up, but what caught her attention was the silvery white figure slowly approaching them.

A Unicorn. She wasn't very large, as she was still young, just smaller than a full grown elk. A common misconception that had evolved over the centuries was that a unicorn was basically a white horse with a horn. However, this was an incorrect interpretation. Everything about her was more slender than the build of a horse, and unlike a horse her hooves were cloven, being more deer-like. Small tufts of soft white hair trailed each of the four ankles. The mane and tail were other noticeable differences. Unlike horse hair, the mane of a Unicorn was soft and silky, not coarse. The tail resembled that of a lion's. Solid and long ending with a small tuft of silky white hair. And then there were the eyes. All unicorns' eyes were violet, a startling contrast against their shimmery white hide.

Hope filled Niriinya as she watched the young unicorn rear back on her hind legs and shift into the form of a human girl.


	7. Chapter 6

***Angel Grove 1996, Mid Afternoon at the Youth Center.**

Three men walked through the door. Two of them hung back, as the other approached the Juice Bar counter. Ernie noticed the man and moved over to him. "Hi there, what can I get you?"

"Actually I have a question for you. My name is Detective Jim Lane of the L.A.P.D.," Jim flashed his badge, "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions."

"Yeah, sure. Ask away." Ernie said trying to sound unshaken, but in reality he was a little nervous. Cops from LA in Angel Grove? This must be serious he thought. Sensing Ernie's hesitation, the detective smiled reassuringly and nodded. "I am actually wondering if you could help me find someone, well two someones actually. Do you possibly know where I could find a..." Jim looked down at a piece of paper, "..a Jason or a Tommy?"

Ernie leaned on the counter a bit, "Well we get a lot of kids that come through here, what are their last names, maybe I can help you narrow down when they might come around?"

"Unfortunately we don't have their last names. I know it would make this easier," Jim said. "If we did, I wouldn't have had to come all the way down here and play where's waldo. All we got is two names: Jason and Tommy and the name of this place." He sequestered around the youth center.

"They aren't in any trouble are they?" Ernie asked concerned.

"I couldn't tell you at this point. I'll know more once I've spoken to them." He raised an eyebrow at Ernie. "Do you know where they are?"

Ernie sighed and thought a bit, he hoped that he wasn't making a mistake. "Well, based on the information you got I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume you are looking for both Jason and Tommy together, not one or the other right?" Detective Lane shrugged his shoulders, and gestured for Ernie to continue. "Well in that case you're probably looking for Jason Scott and Tommy Oliver." Jim quickly wrote the names down on his pad. "Jason and Tommy," Ernie continued, "are two of the teens that hang out here on a regular basis. They teach a kids martial arts class together, best friends. They're the only Tommy and Jason I know who would be associated with each other."

Taking notes Jim had one more question. "You said they teach a class here? What time is that at?" Jim asked.

Ernie looked back, "At 4 o'clock, but if you want to talk to them now, they're over there on the mat working out." Ernie pointed to the lower level below the juice bar. Detective Lane turned his head to follow the direction Ernie was pointing.

"Thank you for your help sir," he said turning back to face Ernie.

"Hey no problem," Ernie said.

Jim walked away from the counter, and nodded towards his companions to follow him. He walked down to where the two youths were sparing. They had impressive martial arts skill, for their age, he thought, hoping he wouldn't have to test his own skills against theirs.

He approached the two youths, "Excuse me," he said getting their attention, "Jason, Tommy?"

"Yeah, I'm Jason." "I'm Tommy," they said almost in unison.

"I'm Detective Jim Lane, LAPD." Once again he flashed his badge. "I was wondering if I might have a word with you gentlemen for a moment?"

The two other men who had entered with Jim walked around the mat, adjacent to the two youths. Tommy and Jason noticed them and gave each other slightly worried looks. "W-what's this about detective?" Tommy asked glancing sideways at the other men.

"Please, come take a seat." Jim motioned to a nearby table. Tommy and Jason followed hesitantly and sat down at the table. The two youths were obviously nervous, but Jim, couldn't tell if it was the normal nervousness that people feel when approached by a police officer or something else. That annoyed him. He tried to calm himself down. He really hadn't wanted to come, but it was his case. He couldn't really have asked or trusted an underling to follow up on this "lead.," if you could call it that.

"So what's this about detective?" Jason asked.

"I'm following up on a lead for a case I'm working on and it appears that the two of you are connected to it somehow." At that revelation Tommy and Jason exchanged nervous glances, each testing to see if the other had any idea what this might be about. Years of reading people told Jim these boys were hiding something, but after non-verbally checking with each other, they were genuinely confused about what this could possibly be about. He cleared his throat and began to explain the situation.

"Two days ago a Jane Doe was admitted to the LA community hospital. She was obviously the victim of a series of violent crimes. She had no form of identification and doesn't show up in any of the police databases. The only thing she had on her was this..." Jim slid a dirty, crumpled piece of paper across the table. The two boys were startled to see their names and Angel Grove Youth Center scribbled on it. Jim continued, "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure that you're the Jason and Tommy we're looking for, but we don't have much to go on."

"So how can we help you?" asked Tommy.

"Do you think it's someone we might know?" Jason chimed in.

"At this point I really don't know, to tell you the truth. The obvious first step is to see if anyone can identify her, and then any information she or her family can give us that will help us with this case. Since she had your names on her, we presume that she knows _you."_

Tommy looked at Jason and then back to Jim. "Well, we'd be happy to help anyway we can," he said a little concerned, "What does she look like?"

"Well, physically, she looks to be about in her early 30s. Vibrant dark blue eyes. About medium height and of a slender build. The one odd thing is that for her age she has relatively long white hair, but the doctors determined that she doesn't suffer from albinism and the coloring is natural. You wouldn't happen to know any young women with white hair would you?" The expressions on the boys' faces changed and they looked hesitantly at each other, both trying to hide looks of surprise. From their reactions Jim knew that he had struck a chord. They knew her.

"She regained consciousness yesterday morning, but isn't speaking to anyone. She still seems to be disoriented. When asked about the piece of paper, she seemed like she wanted to talk, but only pointed to your names."

Jim leaned back in his chair. "Does that mean anything to you by any chance?" He asked cautiously.

The boys looked at each other again. Tommy nodded and Jason spoke up, leaning forward over the table, turning to face Jim. "We knew someone, a few years ago that fit that description." He paused. He was considering his next words carefully. He held Jim's discerning gaze, "What do you need from us?"

* * *

Detective Lane led Tommy and Jason though the hospital halls. They boys had agreed to follow him all the way to LA to see if this girl was someone they knew or not. He was pleased that it had been a relatively easy meeting and there was no conflict, but despite their co-cooperativeness, something was still nagging at him. He stopped just outside of the door to the girl's room. It was a single occupancy room, with one door that had a small window in it. A police officer stood guard outside the door. Jim stopped and turned to face the two teens.

"Now I have to warn you, she still has some of the bruises and cuts from the attack, so," he paused, "I just want you to be prepared."

"When you say "attack," Jason spoke up hesitantly. "You, you mean," he paused not meeting Detective Lane's eyes. He couldn't seem to finish the sentence. Jim felt sorry for the kid. Angel Grove was very different from LA. These kids had probably led a very sheltered life, he thought.

"Yes son. I'm afraid there is evidence she was raped. That's how I caught this case. We've been following a series of these types of attacks that have occurred within the last few weeks. And they all end with the victims being left outside the hospital, usually unconscious. So far we haven't been able to get any leads. Of course our priority is to find out who these women are and get them back to their families. If we can do that for her, _then_ we'd appreciate any information she could give us about the attack."

Both boys looked sad and uncomfortable. He hadn't meant to lay it all out there and freak them out. He ran his hand through his hair. This case had been a hard one, and he hadn't been sleeping well ever since it came across his desk.

"I'm sorry, but you had to know the truth. If she is a friend of yours, you need to know that emotionally she is probably in a very fragile state, so just, be prepared okay?"

Both the boys straightened and nodded. Jim turned and heard one of them take a deep breath.

"I'll go in and see if she's awake. I'll let you know when/if it's okay for you to enter." Jim entered the room and closed the door. A few seconds later the door opened and he motioned for them to follow him, the second officer followed behind the two boys. Jim was sure to keep an eye on the young woman as the the two youths came into view, he was prepared for anything. He wasn't really worried that these two had had any part in her attack, but his years of training had him on edge. His nerves calmed however when he saw the smile appear on her face. Her whole demeanor changed. Her eyes lit up and she seemed to relax. Yes, it was apparent that she knew them, he had found the right guys. He looked at he boys, but they seemed confused still. The boy named Tommy had stopped and was staring intently at the woman in the bed. Jason, noticing her smiling at them, gave an awkward smile back. Detective Lane looked back at her, to find her eyes had moved to him.

She had to expend a lot of energy to get the next few words out. "Can I.." she caught her breath, "talk alone?" Jim smiled, but he did not like the sound of that. While it was a relief that he finally had someone to connect her to. Her particular case made the idea of leaving her alone in a room with people he didn't know, unnerving. Especially because of the way they were acting.

"Are you sure about this?" He glanced at the two youths then back to her. She had such a pleading look on her face, he just couldn't say no. "I'll be right out here if you need anything." He motioned to the officer to follow him out. The door shut.

Reenya watched him leave the room. She sat up a bit in the bed and tried not to wince too much at the pain. She had never had a broken arm before, it was all very disconcerting. She wanted to jump out of the bed and run to them, and drown her sorrows. Looking at them she felt her eyes start to tear, and she wiped them away. "Rangers." She managed to say softly. She had tried to say more but the words didn't come out. Tommy and Jason looked around nervously and moved closer to the bed.

"I'm sorry but how do you know who we are?" Jason asked. Reenya nodded and sat up some more. Of course last time they saw her she had looked like a teenager, and her face was different now. "Yes.." she said softly. Every word was a struggle to say. Placing her good hand on her chest she said, "Reenya."

They looked relieved and confused at the same time. She raised her hand to stop their questions. "Explain...later. Need...your help." The process of talking this way was exhausting. It would have been so much easier to mind speak with them. At the thought, she had to fight back the tears again. Reading the expression on Tommy's face, she knew what he was thinking. He was trying to use his gift, and not succeeding. She wished she could explain, tell them everything, but that would have to wait. She was so tired. She needed to get to the command center, she would be safe there.

"Let's go." She motioned for them to help her up. She winced through the pain that shot through her body.

She looked up as she heard the door open and Jim suddenly came into the room. "Is everything okay?" He asked and raised one eyebrow, looking at Reenya. The boys froze, they didn't know what to do, they had kinda forgotten that the police were involved with this. Jason regained himself quickly though and addressed Jim. "She wanted to get out of here, is that a problem?" Jim looked at her and she tried her best to look composed and defiant. He ultimately had no authority to keep her there, but he still had an investigation to complete, and now that she was able to communicate he had questions that needed answers.

He addressed Reenya. "I was hoping that maybe you could tell us something about who attacked you, anything that might help us in this case." She looked at the ground and tried to think, everything about the last few weeks was one big nightmare, she couldn't pin-point that one attack. Even if she could, she had no capacity to talk about it, she looked up at Detective Lane and shook her head. "Can't.." she said softly, and he nodded with understanding.

He didn't want to push. He knew how fragile victims of these crimes were. He turned to Jason, "When she is feeling better, should she remember anything at all, have her call me?" He pulled out a business card and handed it to Jason.

"Thanks." The teen said as he put the card in his pocket and proceeded to help Reenya sit up.

Tommy looked around. "Um...do you have any clothes or anything to put on?"


	8. Chapter 7

**Present**

"_Drop to the ground now!"_ The voice had yelled. He didn't think or question, he just reacted and followed the voice's instructions. He noticed the other Rangers had done the same thing, and then a bright light flashed across the battlefield.

Trent shut his eyes tightly against the blinding light. When he finally opened them he noticed that all the tyranodrones were gone. He sat up and looked around confused until he saw her. She was running towards them in her human form. She reached Kira first. Lilly stopped and helped her up.

"Wha, what happened?" He heard Kira say a little dazed. At the same time he heard a cry off to his right and a blur of red caught his eye. He turned around and saw Conner running, then dropping to the ground near...and then he remembered. The image of Zeltrax standing over Dr. Oliver with his sword raised.

Trent lept up off the ground and ran as fast as he could. _"No, no no no."_ He kept saying to himself. He was about 5 feet away when he saw Conner yelling and shaking the limp form of Dr. Oliver. _"No! This can't be happening!"_ And he fell to his knees. Suddenly it felt as if the air had been sucked from his lungs. He never thought his dad would let something like that happen. He shook himself. Of course his dad wouldn't, but he wasn't in control anymore. Mesagog was. He should have told Dr. Oliver months ago, but his dad said he could handle it. _'I should have told them, they could have helped. Oh my god! This is my fault!' _He thought. The emotions finally hit him hard and tears formed in his eyes. He was brought out of his musings when he heard Kira's anguished cry as she rushed past him and collapsed next to their teacher and friend grabbing his lifeless hand.

"NO! Dr. O wake up! Please, wake up. Dr. O!" She sobbed. "Pleeaasse!"

Trent took a deep breath and forced himself to his feet. He hurried to her side and put his arms around her. She collapsed against him burying her face in his chest. How could he ever tell them the truth. Would she ever talk to him again? He pulled her in close, burying his face in her hair, trying to hide his tears.

Lilly watched in horror. She couldn't believe it. How had this happened? He couldn't be gone. Tears stung her eyes as she took in the sight of Conner, Trent and Kira huddled around Dr. O. The restorer, her guardian; after all he had been though, she never thought...

Ethan came up on her left and grabbed her shoulder frantically. "Lilly you've got to do something! You have magic right? You can heal him!" The others had heard this and looked back at them. Exclamations of a similar line of thinking to Ethan's comment came and looks of hope.

She walked over closer to the group. "I've never done anything like that before, but I can try." She said. She was about to kneel down when a woman's voice stopped her.

"It won't work." The teens all looked at the figure that was standing a few feet away. They were shocked by her presence and appearance. Before they could protest or comment, she continued. "She has the power to heal yes, but she cannot restore life once it is gone. Especially not someone as young as she."

"How would you know?" Conner's voice had a defiant and dangerous edge to it. He had seen what happened. Dr. O had surrendered his morpher to save her. This was obviously someone who was important to their teacher, but Conner didn't care. In his grief, logic failed him. Dr. O was dead, and it was because of her. "Who are you anyway?" He said angrily. They all looked at the woman intently waiting for the answer.

The woman turned her head and locked eyes with Lilly. Lilly stared into those brilliant blue eyes and her breath caught in throat.

"Máthair?" Lilly said timidly. Fearfully. She began moving towards her.

"Iti mana." The woman said softly, smiling.

"Mom!" Lilly cried as she hurried to close the distance between them. She threw her arms around her mother, but pulled back when Niriinya grunted in pain. In the midst of the tragedy she was relieved to have her mom there with her, but her relief faded quickly. She opened her eyes realizing that she did not hear or feel anything coming from her. Normally her mom would be in her head with thoughts of love and comfort, but there was nothing. She stepped back and and took in the state of the woman before her; dirty, bleeding and bruised all over. "Mom? Are you..." She couldn't finish the sentence.

"What's going on?" Ethan asked.

Niriinya looked at the young humans, shock and grief on their features. They were her responsibility now. As much as she wanted to collapse in her grief, they needed a leader now. They needed focus. They needed hope. She looked at her daughter. '_Yes.' _She thought. '_Now there is hope.' _She grabbed her daughter's hand and approached them.

"I promise all will be explained, but right now we need to act fast. Quickly, everybody join hands."

Lilly grabbed Kira's hand. Trent already had a hold of her other one. He looked over to Ethan who was between him and Conner. Ethan nodded and slowly reached out. Trent took his hand. Ethan knelt down and reached over Dr. O's body for Conner who sat there just looking at them. Niriinya saw the hesitation, and still holding Lilly's hand positioned herself in front of Conner. He flinched as she came near. He was holding the hand of his teacher close to his chest with both of his hands, as if afraid to let go.

"He was my friend too." She said holding the young man's gaze. "We cannot let his death be for nothing."

"Come with us." She said softly and held out a hand. Conner was confused. '_Go where?'_ He looked around the circle that had formed at his teammates.

"Conner." He looked back at Lilly. "Trust _ME._" She nodded towards the woman she had called Mom. Conner looked into her sad, yet strong eyes, then at the outstretched hand. He took a deep breath as he heard Ethan's voice as well. He reached out with his left hand, keeping Dr. O's in his right, and grasped the hand of Lilly's mom.

She smiled and looked at her daughter. "Take us to their command center." Lilly hesitated. "Concentrate Lillyana. You can do this." Niriinya continued. Lilly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Kira gasped as the forest dissolved and the Dino lair reformed around them. Similar exclamations of surprise came from Ethan, Conner and Trent.

"That was, different." Ethan said.

Niriinya released her grip from Conner and Lilly. She looked down at the body in the middle of them. "Conner, Trent, Ethan." She addressed them. "Help me move him." She guested towards a metal table off to the side of the room. To their credit the three teens did not argue, while they did move slowly, and set about the task she had laid before them. She bent down to grab his shoulder and cried out in pain as the deep gashes on her back protested.

Lilly grabbed her, keeping her from falling and walked her backwards out of the way. "Here, let me help." She brought her hand up to her mom's chest and closed her eyes. All the other teens stood frozen as a white light began to grow underneath Lilly's palm. It slowly moved under Niriinya's skin, throughout her whole body. Suddenly there was a bright flash, and when the teens looked back they were amazed.

The woman standing before them looked completely different. She now had a full head of long silver-gray hair and her skin was flawless. No more cuts or bruises were visible. The only blood remaining was that which was on her "clothing." The boys had been looking her over, simply taking in the healing that Lilly had preformed, and realized very quickly just how poor a job those small rags did at covering her breasts. All three averted their eyes. Ethan scratched his head and turned away. Conner blushed, looking at the ground. Trent dropped his eyes, but moved to take off his white button down shirt. He walked over and handed it to Lilly, keeping his eyes elsewhere.

"Thank you Trent." Niriinya said as Lilly handed her the shirt. "Alright gentlemen," she said as she put on the shirt and began buttoning it. "Focus on Tommy." The three boys went back to the task of moving their teacher's body, sadness overwhelming them again.

As Kira watched them. A realization hit her. "I have to call Hayley!" She said and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. Moving to a far corner of the lab.

Niriinya turned to her daughter and hugged her. "Oh my precious one." She pulled back and looked at Lilly's face. "I need you to do something for me now, okay?" Lilly nodded. "Go to Coren and have him get the Heart Stone to the council. Let them know of my situation and tell them it is time and to have everyone prepare. Have Coren and the council follow you back here. Can you do that?"

"Yes." She nodded. Niriinya kissed her on the forehead.

"Go quickly now, and be safe."

* * *

The late afternoon crowd was thick at the cafe and Hayley found herself running around frantically. Trent hadn't come in because of a call from Tommy, and she had only planned two other staff that day. As much as she wanted to go to the lab and see how the ranger's were doing, she couldn't leave.

"Hayley!" A shout came from behind the bar. "Phone for you!" Hayley huffed as she set down the two drinks she had been delivering, and headed back behind the counter. She grabbed the phone from Derek.

"This is Hayley?" She said, trying not to sound flustered.

"Hayley?" Kira's voice was strained. Hayley waited for her to continue. She could barely hear Kira take a sobbing breath over the noise of the cafe. Hayley held her breath in return. She felt it in her gut, something was wrong.

"Kira? What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's, something happened." She paused, her voice was a little stronger. "We need you at lair, as soon as possible."

She looked around at the chaos that was the cafe at the moment. "Is it something I can help with over the phone? The cafe is really busy right now, I'm not sure I can leave." Even as she said the words she knew how ridiculous it was. Deep down she was hoping it wasn't that serious, teenagers tended to be over dramatic, and she was praying that's all it was.

"No, it's not something...I can't...Hayley we really need you!"

"Let me talk to Tommy." Silence from the other end. "Kira." She said slowly, "put Tommy on the phone and I'll see what I can do."

She heard muffled sobbing on the other end of the line. Her hope that Kira had been over-reacting to something started to slip away.

"Hayley?" A new voice said into the phone.

"Trent, what's going on? What's wrong with Kira? Where's Tommy?" She asked frantically.

"Hayley, Dr. O..." another pause. They were driving her crazy.

"Just tell me!" She almost screamed into the phone.

"He's dead." Her heart seemed to stop for a second. She grasped onto the counter with her free hand. "Zeltrax killed him." Trent continued. Her legs became weak, but she held herself up, not wanting to cause a scene. '_It can't be!'_ She thought.

"Are, are you sure? Maybe it was a trick, maybe..."

"We're sure." He interrupted her. "Just come to the lair." His voice sounded defeated. "You'll see." The line went dead.

"Trent? Trent?" She slammed the phone down on the counter, startling the people around her. She heard their exclamations of surprise, but she didn't care. She collapsed to the ground, hand over her mouth, hyperventilating.

Derek knelt down beside, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hayley are you okay?" She tried to wipe her eyes with her hands, not looking at him.

"No. Derek, I have an emergency, I have to go." She motioned for him to help her up. "I'm sorry to leave you and Ben in this mess. Call Lauren and Chris, see if they can come in to help. If it becomes too much, go ahead and close up early." She walked away, not looking at him, and headed into the back. She grabbed her purse and keys and ran out the back door.


	9. Chapter 8

**Present**

Trent hung up the phone and once again pulled Kira into his arms.

"I'm sorry." She said. She took a deep sobbing breath, and tried to compose herself. She was mentally kicking herself. She always thought she was stronger than this, but she had never experienced death, real death and loss, like this before. Trent just held her tighter. "It's alright Kira. It's gonna be okay." He replied.

Conner looked at Trent with disgust. "How is it going to be okay?" He said angrily. He stood there with his arms crossed. "Did you not see what happened? They killed Dr. O! Don't you care? Or was this part of your plan all along, huh? Whose side are you on this week Trent?"

"Whoa!" Ethan said cautiously approaching Conner. "I think everyone needs to calm down..."

"How can you even say that?" Trent replied glaring at Conner. He gently pulled away from Kira and stood to face Conner. "Haven't I proven myself yet? When is it going to be enough for you?" He got a dangerous look on his face and approached Conner. "You don't think I care! Dr. O was.." he faltered.

"Guys please stop it!" Kira cried, still kneeling on the ground. They both looked at her, crushed at the sight of her so vulnerable and sad. Both were silent. Trent glared and turned away from Conner.

"Kira's right." Ethan said stepping between the two. "We shouldn't be fighting each other. Mesagog is the enemy. We need to figure out what to do."

"Oh, I'll tell what we're gonna do." Conner said glaring at Trent. "You wanna prove what side you're on? You're gonna take us to Mesagog's lab, I know you know how to get there. We're going to get our morphers back, and then we're gonna put an end to Mesagog, Zeltrax and Elsa once and for all."

"You can't do that!" Trent said frantically. They all looked at him.

Conner got a dangerous look on his face. "Oh yeah? And why not?"

Trent took a breath, trying not to be suspicious and resisting the urge not to punch Conner. "You can't underestimate Mesagog." He stuttered. "Hasn't today proven that? We should wait for Hayley, to come up with a plan."

Conner started to argue with Trent, but Niriinya interrupted them. "Enough gentleman." She said in a very diplomatic tone and moved in between the two boys. "I know you are all upset right now. Emotions are running high and..."

"This is none of your business. We wouldn't even be in this mess if it weren't for you!"

"Conner!" The other three teens exclaimed, but Niriinya held up her hand.

"It's okay." She said sadly. 8 years ago she would have broken down into sobs, the way Kira had, but now she understood better how to over-rule the human emotions that were running through her. She squared her shoulders and looked up at the teens, her face a mask.

"You're right. If it wasn't for me, your black ranger would be alive right now. You also need to get your powers back, you can bet your enemy has a big moved planned."

"Ha!" Conner exclaimed.

"However," she interjected quickly to avoid a fight, "you cannot do that alone. There are bigger forces at work here. You cannot begin to challenge them, especially since you can't morph."

"So why don't you help us?" Kira spoke up, surprising everyone. She was standing off to the side, but moved in close to Trent and continued. "You're Lilly's mom right? She said you were like some super warrior among your kind right?"

She sighed and turned away. She wrapped her arms around herself. '_Focus!'_ She berated herself. "That used to be true. But..." she faced them again, "right now I have no powers that could help you. In fact, I am more powerless than the four of you, as I am simply human." The kids looked at each other confused.

Ethan took a step closer. "What do you mean? You are Lilly's mom right?" She nodded. "I don't get it."

"I'll explain. We have to wait for Lillyana to return before we can make a move anyway." She sat down on a crate and began to explain what had happened, all those years ago.

* * *

***Angel Grove 1996**

It was a week before Niriinya's injuries had healed enough that she could comfortably walk around and talk in full sentences. She had been staying at the command center in a back room. After the first two nights of terrible nightmares, Zordon decided that Niriinya needed some to be with her at night, someone human, and so Kat had volunteered to keep her company, as her parents were out of town.

Tommy and Jason explained to the other rangers about the Mythics and how they met. When she felt the time was right, Niriinya sat down with the rangers and explained her tragic tale.

"In the years that followed the Great Battle, conflicts with the warriors had been scarce. At first we were encouraged. We thought that the Great Battle had opened a lot of eyes and hoped that their cause was losing steam." She looked at the floor and shook her head.

"We were terribly wrong. Although there were not many open attacks against human kind they were working very very hard. Turns out the Great Battle did open their eyes, just not the way we thought. After realizing that killing our own kind was psychologically and physically devastating to all Mythics, the Warriors council decided that alternate means were necessary to defeat us. They turned to using magics, from all sources. They tapped into magics from realms beyond our own, what the human wizards called black, or dark magic. Evil forces and powers were also unleashed with these magics and infected the minds of the Mythics who practiced them. And with that infection came the most evil and unthinkable of plots."

She paused to catch her breath and looked at the rangers. "Tommy," she said, "You've been wondering why you couldn't communicate with me using the gift I gave you?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I thought that I was doing it wrong, I.." She held up her hand cutting him off. "You did nothing wrong. It didn't work because I am human now." She waited for that to sink in, but continued quickly before questions could be asked.

"It is by far the Warriors most offensive and vicious act yet. They figured if they couldn't kill us to get us out of the way, they could at least disable us, get rid of us. They had developed the energies to strip a mythic of their being and make them human. How they kept this all secret from us for all these centuries, how we didn't feel or sense it drowns my soul." She had to fight back the tears.

"The attack was so sudden. They attacked the ancients and the elders of the council first. I'm not sure how many, if any escaped. We didn't have time to react before the core of our being was ripped from us and we were defenseless. Do you understand what that means?" She looked at them pleadingly, "The council of elders was composed of the oldest and wisest of our races and they are no more. It's just the same as if we had died."

With that she couldn't continue, her voice choked up and the pain of sorrow filled her chest. She had to stand up and turn away from them. She was alone in her mind, for the first time in her life, there was no one to reach out to, no earth to draw strength from, only her thoughts and pain.

Tommy walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I..I'm just not use to.." she said trailing off.

She turned and buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his strong arms around her as she silently cried.

"Hey it's okay," Tommy said, "We can hear the story another time. You need to rest."

She wanted to be strong and say that _'Everything was fine.' _ But it wasn't, how could it ever be fine again? She took a deep breath and looked up into his concerned eyes. She was surprised at the compassion and understanding she saw there. He was so young, even by human standards. She had always admired the human spirit, but before now, she had never really understood it. How could they deal with these emotions and still function? As old as she was, she felt like a child compared to the boy who was now comforting her.

She stepped back and wiped her eyes. "No, I can continue. Thank you though." She said holding onto his arm unsteadily. He led her back to her seat, and she faced the group. "After, after the attack, they took us to various locations around the world, probably to keep us separate, and from warning others."

She paused. "Now, they're out there." She motioned with her hand. "Somewhere out there, about 30 or so others, like me, for the first time in thousands of years of walking this earth, are alone. I was knocked unconscious and woke up in a homeless shelter in Los Angeles. I can only hope that the others received the same courtesy and at least will be in a place where they will be fed and sheltered. But I know that none of them are as lucky as I was." She smiled, tiredly, at them. "To have ended up where I did, so close to you. If the Warriors had known about our connection, I'm sure I would not be here."


	10. Chapter 9

**Angel Grove 1996**

*_In the Power Chamber_

"Jason, knock it off!" Billy turned around quickly and glared at his friend. He rolled his eyes and threw up his hands as Jason displayed an expression of utter shock. "What?" He questioned.

Billy turned back to the screen. "You! Hovering over my shoulder and asking questions every 30 seconds isn't going to make this go any faster."

"I'm just trying to help." Jason said. "I thou.."

"Well you're not!" Jason was taken aback by the anger in his friend's voice. Billy rested his elbows on the console and rubbed his hands over his face. He looked back at Jason.

"I'm sorry. I'm just tired, and between you and Tommy..." He let out a long sigh. "I need some peace and quiet. Just a few hours to think. Please?"

Jason was still a little hurt from Billy's tone. Billy had never yelled at him like that before, but he could see the lines on his face and hear the tiredness in his voice.

Jason nodded and took a step back. "I'll just go check on Niriinya. Again."

Billy watched him retreat towards the back rooms. He sighed as he keyed a command into the panel in front of him. He looked at Zordon's empty tube. Zordon would know what they were up to soon enough. A flash of red light appeared in the chamber, and Tommy ran over to him.

"Are we ready?" He said eagerly.

"I still think this is a bad idea, I haven't had sufficient time to accumulate..." Billy said.

"We won't get another chance with Zordon not around."

"Yeah, about that. Why don't we want Zordon to know again? I have no idea what you will find down there. I'm not even sure we'll still be able to communicate with you. If something goes wrong...we should wait for Zordon to return."

"He'd only try to stop me."

"That should tell you something. I don't like keeping this a secret from everyone. Jason is in the back, we should at least bring him into this."

"No. Definitely not. He'd be worse than Zordon, and he'd want to go himself."

"Would that be so bad?"

"I'm the leader, it's my responsibility. Besides, like you said. We don't know what I'll encounter. What if I run into her kind? We know most of them don't like or trust humans. I can convince them with the gift."

"If they give you a chance to use it." Billy sneered.

"Look, we'll tell everyone when we have something to tell. If we're wrong..." he looked at Billy and shook his head. "I just don't want to get her hopes up." He looked at his old friend pleadingly. "It's just a simple recon mission Billy. I'll be back before anyone knows I was gone."

Billy looked skeptically at Tommy. He knew it was pointless to argue with his friend. He could be worse than stubborn sometimes, and these last few weeks had been particularly bad. He sighed turning back to the control panel. He punched in some commands and a 3-D, transparent, projection of the globe hovered in the air in front of him.

"I've identified 5 possibilities." He said looking at the globe. As it slowly spun, small areas of orange light appeared around it. "They are all deep underground."

"And you're sure..."

"I'm not sure of anything." Billy interrupted sternly. "It's one of the reasons, I think we should wait." He sighed and looked at Tommy. "I'm sorry." He said before Tommy could reply. The last week, all the secrecy and lying to everyone was wearing on him. "All I know is that the computer matched these points to the energy readings acquired 2 years ago. These," he pointed to the glowing dots, "represent areas of highly concentrated energy. Now what that means, or how that helps us, is unknown to me at this time."

"Which is why I am going to go check it out." Tommy said firmly. He approached the globe. "You said they were deep underground. How deep?"

"It varies. Some are only a couple thousand feet underground, others, a couple of miles."

"And where is the energy the strongest?"

"There is one, in Europe. According to the computer, the energy readings are significantly higher than any other on the globe."

"Then that's the one."

"Wait Tommy. I think..."

"Billy come on. There's nothing you can say that'll make me change my mind." He shook his wrists and his Zeonizers appeared. "Zeo ranger five, red!"

Billy looked at his now morphed friend. His finger hovered over the button. Once he hit that button, there was no going back. Tommy stood still, waiting. After a few seconds of waiting, the red helmet bobbed up and down as Tommy nodded, signaling to Billy he was ready. Billy took a deep breath and prayed he wasn't making a mistake. He closed his eyes and pushed the button.

From the shadows of the hallway, Jason watched Tommy disappear in a flash of red. His breath caught in his throat as a wave of emotions flooded through him. He fled back down the hall towards Reenya's makeshift room. He opened the door and sat down hard on the small cot. He looked around the empty room, trying to make sense of what he had just heard. Billy was supposed to be working on ways to help Reenya regain her powers, but he said he hadn't gotten anywhere or found anything. What the hell was going on? Anger began to build inside him and he took a deep breath trying to get it under control. He would confront Billy later, after he had time to clear his head.

When Billy had first shooed him away, he had found that Reenya was not in her room. He had panicked and ran back to the main chamber, but had slowed when he heard voices. He normally didn't endorse eaves dropping, but something had stopped him from blundering into the middle of Tommy and Billy's argument. He was surprised that only moments before Billy had yelled at Jason, and now here he was giving Tommy information. None of it made sense to Jason, but he knew that whatever it was they were discussing, Billy wasn't thrilled about it, but Tommy's stubbornness won out in the end. Jason was just about to announce his presence when Tommy morphed, and a few moments later, teleported out.

He stood and paced the room, running his hand through his hair. First things first, he needed to find Reenya. The best way was to ask Billy to find her with the computer, but too much time had passed, it would look suspicious. He keyed his communicator.

"Kat, this is Jason, do you read me?"

"Go ahead Jason."

"I'm at the command center and Reenya's not here. I was hoping you knew where she was."

"Oh yeah, sorry bout that. We forgot to tell you. She and I went to my house early this morning. She said she hadn't bathed in a couple days and had a desire to be clean." She laughed.

Jason sighed, relieved that she was safe. "Where are you guys now?"

"I'm getting ready to head to the youth center to meet up with the guys. Tanya took Niriinya shopping, and will meet us later."

Hearing Reenya's full name made Jason pause a bit. For some reason Kat insisted on calling her by her full name, saying it was more majestic, than the nickname she had used 2 years ago. Jason didn't think he'd ever be able to call her by her full name. It was hard enough connecting the mid thirties, white haired woman, with the young teenage blonde he had known, and had a crush on before. Only her intense blue eyes and olive skin seemed the same. Calling her Reenya helped him see the girl he had known.

"Sounds good. I'll meet you guys there."

Jason teleported home and grabbed his gym bag. A good sparing session would be just what he needed to clear his head, he hoped Adam was in the mood to spar. He was angry at Billy, and Tommy, but he was worried about Tommy. He was also worried about Reenya. He felt emotionally torn.

He decided to walk to the youth center, hoping that the walk would help him clear his head.

* * *

Niriinya watched Tanya drive off. She felt bad about lying to the young girl. Terrible, crashing guilt washed over her and she had to restrain herself from calling out and running back to the car. It was moments like that, the overwhelming emotions, that had really driven her here. She looked out towards the ocean, then over at the cliffs, to her left, towering above it. She closed her eyes, taking in a long breath and counting to 10 before letting it out. She couldn't stop the tears, as she headed towards the cliffs.

* * *

"Hey Ernie!" Kat said cheerfully as she entered the Juice Bar and waved at the large man behind the counter. She quickly scanned the room and saw the three boys down on the practice mat. She rolled her eyes. '_All those guys ever do is spar.' _She thought to herself, as she looked for an open table; spotting one down near where the boys were practicing. She hoped that Tanya and Niriinya would get there soon.

Tanya saw Kat sitting at a table by herself and headed that direction. "Hey Kat!" She said dropping down into the chair across from her. Kat turned and smiled, then her smile faded a little as she glanced over Tanya's shoulder.

"Where's Niriinya?"

"Oh she met Jason at the beach. Something about learning to surf." She paused when she saw Kat's expression. "What is it?"

"Jason's here."

"What?" Tanya said and followed Kat's direction to where the boys were. They had moved off the mats to take a break.

"I, I don't understand.." Tanya stammered.

Kat jumped up from the table and headed towards the boys and Tanya followed.

"Hey guys!" Rocky said cheerfully.

"Jason," Kat said said forcefully. "Where's Niriinya?"

Jason looked at her confused. "You said she went shopping with Tanya and would meet us here." He noticed Tanya behind Kat, and stepped forward "What happened?"

Tanya explained about what Reenya had said and where she had left her.

"Guys, I don't like this." Kat remarked nervously.

"We need to find her now. She's too vulnerable out there by herself." Jason headed towards the hallway and the others scrambled after him. Once they were out of sight, they all teleported to the power chamber.

When they arrived, before anyone could say anything Jason started barking orders. "Billy I need you to scan for Reenya and find out where she is." Everyone paused at this change in demeanor. Only Billy was familiar with "leader" Jason, and he didn't hesitate to comply.

Kat looked around. "Where's Tommy?" Jason heard Kat in the background trying to contact Tommy on the communicator. Jason watched Billy as Kat repeated her hail, and received no response.

"Okay, I don't like this." Chimed in Adam. "I mean, it's not unusual for Tommy to not answer his communicator, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Billy can you lock onto Tommy's communicator and teleport him here?" Tanya asked, an edge of worry in her voice.

Billy looked panicked and guilty. "Umm.."

"First things first." Jason interrupted and turned back to Billy. "Locate Reenya. We'll talk about Tommy once she's back here and safe." He glared at Billy, who slowly turned his attention back to the computer. A series of beeps stopped any other questions or comments from the other rangers, who looked at Jason in shock and disbelief.

"Found her." Billy said, bringing the picture up on the screen. "She's at the cliffs."

They all turned and looked to see Niriinya standing frighteningly close to the edge of the cliffs overlooking the beach. Her white hair was down and it whipped around her in the wind. Jason keyed his communicator.

"Reenya." There was no response. In the viewer they saw her start to bring her wrist up. She paused and moved to take the device off. Worried, Jason tried again. "Reenya, it's Jason. Do you read me?" His voice cracked, and he tried to conceal his panic as he watched her hold the communicator out over the edge. "I'm sorry." They heard her say softly, and let it fall to the rocks below.

"I don't like this. Billy teleport her here now."

"I'm trying. The computer was locked onto the communicator, it will take a minute to reconfigure the lock onto her signature."

Jason looked annoyed, but dread was filling him. "I'm going after her." He keyed the sequence in, and teleported to the cliffs. He looked around and saw that he was ten feet behind her. He slowly started walking. He didn't know whether to call out to her, and risk startling her, or just go pull her away from the edge. His debate, and movement was halted when she suddenly spoke.

"I know you're there." She angled her head slightly to the right. "Your teleportation is not as quiet as you think it is."

He was startled momentarily, but then continued forward, slowly. "Reenya. What are you doing?"

"It doesn't matter. I don't matter. Nothing matters anymore." She turned her head slightly towards him, looking over her right shoulder, her hair obscuring her face. "Tell the others thank you. For all their kindness." She faced the ocean again and spread her arms out to her sides, before Jason could reply. She was getting ready to leap off.

He put on speed, trying to cover the remaining distance before she could. He reached her just as she started to fall forward. He grabbed her arm and spun her around, but he couldn't slow his own momentum. While her feet were now firmly planted on the soft grass, his heels were on the edge as he tried, flailing his arms to stop himself from flying out into empty space. He locked eyes with hers. They were wide and her mouth was open in horror as he began to fall.

He managed to trow his body back towards the cliff, but saw that it wasn't enough. She threw her arms out and caught his hand just before he was out of reach, throwing her body to the ground. She yelled at the pain as his weight pulled on her as his body slammed into the cliff face. He reached up and grabbed the edge with his free hand. He braced his feet against a small outcropping and pulled himself up and over to safety, rolling onto his back and breathing heavily.

Beside him, her breaths came in gasps, and he saw her trembling. Rolling over to his knees he reached out to her. When his hand touched her shoulder, her reaction caught him off guard. She jerked at his touch and slapped his hand away. The look in her eyes was a mix of fear and anger that caused him to freeze.

"You," she gasped. "You stupid, stupid child." The emphasis she put on _'child'_ cut Jason. She closed her eyes and dropped her head. "You, you could have been killed." Her voice was softer. She focused, trying to get her breathing under control. "You should have just let me go."

He moved closer and put his arms around her, pulling her in close. She buried her face in his chest and cried.

He sighed. "None of us can know what you are going though, but," he pulled back from her a little, "You do matter. Look at me." Her eyes met his. "There is always hope."


End file.
